This piece started with many field recordings made while walking in different spaces. One is meant to hear the sound of the space change as the location changes. I thought it would be interesting to make a piece out of a daily task, something that we often do not even realize is making sound until it is recorded listened back to.
The act of recording my footsteps forced me into a kind of walking meditation where I was concentrating on the sounds around me much more than I normally would have. I was conscious about all of the things I stepped on and all the incidental sounds that happened while recording. Another reason for choosing footsteps was that they tend to be rhythmic. If you listen to one recording in isolation you will hear a simple, repetitive rhythm. Then, if multiple recordings are played simultaneously, an unpredictable polyrhythm results.
The field recordings are layered over the course of the piece and then resonant filters bring out harmonics of a Lydian scale. Because of the rhythmic possibilities of the footsteps, I wanted to use the recordings as a way to generate notation in real-time as a way to facilitate a more tightly related improvisation; not to just give a player material to play against, but give them notation that was derived directly from that material.
Performances
- Center for New Music, San Francisco, Dec 7, 2016